Not So Pretty Pictures

So things were pretty chaotic yesterday.  At one moment in time the following was going on:

Isaac was wiring trying to get our very old television (we use it to watch DVDs) hooked up to a digital converter box and all sorts of other paraphernalia to see if he could get something to come in.  All of the parts he brought home from recycling.  There were wires going from the TV up through the ceiling to the upstairs  out through the skylight to a wooden pole attached to our roof.  

Abraham was taking rubber mats brought home from recycling making a ramp on the couch.

Abby was up in her room watching a downloaded you tube craft video and creating something.

Nolan was replacing a hole between two closets upstairs and had plans to make a speaker from found materials.

Sarah had everything pulled out of the closet she and Abby share to re-organize.

Emmy had just taken out the watercolor paints and asked to paint.

My head was spinning and I definitely felt overwhelmed but at the same time each was engaged, doing a kind of meaningful work.

Natural Dyeing with Red Onion Skins

The other day when I was chopping up red onions for soup, I saved the skins and put them in a pot, covered them with water and heated them on the wood stove for a couple of hours and then strained the skins and kept the dye.

(This picture made the yarn look lighter than it is.)

In the meantime, I soaked a bit of wool yarn in an alum bath.

Next, the wool yarn was added to the dye bath in a pot and heated to very warm and let sit for several more hours.  Finally, the yarn was rinsed out.

I love the color that resulted - a rusty brown.

Using the red onion dyed yarn in the middle, some natural yarn next, and then finally some yarn I dyed with bracken last summer, I made a granny square.  Next I made a square the same size as the granny square, all in the single crochet stitch.  Finally, I attached the two squares using the red onion dyed yarn with the single crochet stitch around adding a loop for hanging.

I am excited to continue learning and experimenting with natural dyeing.

Finished the Crocheted Cardigan

Finished:  I am generally don't really like the look of crocheted clothing, but this pattern persuaded me to give it a try and it was very simple and the pattern was easy to follow.

It is the Fair Isle Style Kids Cardigan from this Etsy shop.

I used itchy wool that I had on hand for my first attempt.  It is a couple of sizes too big for Emmy but I think it will make a good play sweater.  I am planning to start another using some soft fingering weight wool that I bartered with a customer in a pretty pink which should result in a size to fit an infant.

Reading:  The Big-Little World of Doc Pritham by Dorothy Clarke Wilson - a nonfiction read about the life and times of an old Maine doctor.   Our little rural library has held on to many older books such as this one.

Listening:  Anne of Green Gables that I downloaded from Books Should Be Free .   On a morning such as this morning, at -23 degrees, we listened to a couple of chapters while sitting as close to the wood stove as possible.

Joining in with Ginny today.

More Related to Nonconformity

This is a great video about unschooling - worth the watch.  It is long but excellent.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwIyy1Fi-4Q‎

Martin Luther King, Jr and Nonconformity

Martin Luther King, Jr's writings and life are inspiring.

From his book, Strength to Love, I have quoted below a section from one sermon.

"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2

  "Do not conform is difficult advice in a generation when crowd pressures have unconsciously conditioned our minds and feet to move to the rhythmic drumbeat of the status quo.  Many voices and forces urge us to choose the path of least resistance, and bid us never to fight for an unpopular cause and never to be found in a pathetic minority of two or three.

    Even certain of our intellectual disciplines persuade us of the need to conform.  Some philosophical sociologists suggest that morality is merely group consensus and that the folkways are the right ways ways.  Some psychologists say that mental and emotional adjustment is the reward for thinking and acting like other people.

     Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.

     In spite of this prevailing tendency to conform, we as Christians have a mandate to be nonconformists.

     When an affluent society would coax us to believe that happiness consists in the size of our automobiles, the impressiveness of our houses, and the expensiveness of our clothes, Jesus reminds us, "A man's life conisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth."

     In spite of this imperative demand to live differently, we have cultivated a  mass mind and have moved from the extreme of rugged individualism to the even greater extreme of rugged collectivism.  We are not makers of history; we are made by history.  Longfellow said, "In this world a man must be anvil or hammer," meaning that he is either a molder of society or is molded by society.  Who doubts that today most men are anvils and are shaped by the patterns of the majority?  

      The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood.  The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists.  ...... In his essay "Self-Reliance" Emerson wrote, "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."  The Apostle Paul reminds us that whoso would be a Christian must also be a nonconformist.  Any Christian who blindly accepts the opinions of the majority and in fear and timidity follows a path of expediency and social approval is a mental and spiritual slave."

Lately

So the weather has been seasonably warm - in the low 30's and perfect for firewood gathering.  Mike has been cutting down some dead evergreens on our property so we can use it this season.  With all of the cold weather we just want to be sure we have enough.  

We have also learned that the soft woods - pines, hemlock, and poplar burn really well in our older inefficient woodstove.  Mike used to follow the conventional thought that hard wood was the best but now we are excited to learn that the soft woods actually burn hotter in our stove.

We had a full  house this week with Sam and Thomas staying during their last week of winter break.  Lots of meal cooking.   It was wonderful to have Thomas, our activity director here.  He gets everyone playing board games and card games.  I also enjoyed having Sam, she knits every minute she can  and she inspires me with her talent.  I have been doing a fair amount of knitting as well.

Mike and I have also been caring for Abraham and Emmy as they have a virus that won't quit.  Just when I think they are getting better, a fever will come back and knock them out.  

A friend dropped off old National Geographic magazines - so everyone has been sharing what they find interesting as they look through them.

Really, our life has been so home centered these last few weeks - would be considered boring by most.  But, I  am feeling content once again (have squelched the fears and wantings for now) in the daily tasks and rhythms that repeat themselves over and over again each day, week, and month.

Crocheting and Reading

I am using up some wool yarn I have had for years to try out a new crochet pattern.

I love it.  It is simple and quick.  I have the button row edge and the arms to finish.

Still really enjoying Crossing To Safety and am just about done.

Wondering if the other books by Wallace Stegner are just as good.

Joining in today with Ginny and so many others at the Yarn Along.